In once again revisiting the films of my youth to see how they hold up, I was not let down. As a fairly mindless childrens adventure film with a scifi edge to it, the film holds up just fine. Some dated special effects but for 1986, it was pretty good. I even managed to inject some greater depth to the film. For those who haven't seen it (or don't remember) in 1978 a 12 year old boy was picked up by a passing UFO on a robotic scientific mission. For an experiment the UFO filled up the kids brain to see what it could take. Normally, the ship hops back in time to drop you off right when it picked you up, but it determined that the human body might not survive the time jump. Due to relativity, the boy is returned to earth 8 years later but hasn't aged a day. He returns to find his family all older and the ship got damaged on it's way out so it needs the star charts it loaded in the kids head to get home.
At the end of the film, the boy realizes that 1986 is not his world and he wants to take the chance of going back in time. So here is where I found greater depth in the film. As a kid, I saw it as the boy knows he doesn't belong in 1986 so he is willing to leave it all behind. As an adult I see it as the boy realizes that 1986 is not his time. Staying there he would be poked and prodded by the government for the rest of his life and his family would never know peace. He asks the UFO to take the chance and send him back in time. He knows he might die, but he is willing to accept that. If he dies, at least his body can be dumped and allow his family to find it and have closure. His family would never have to go through the pain they did for the last 8 years of him being gone. This young boy sees things so clearly that he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family. The boy has got balls.
Also, for a Disney family film from 1986, it had a fair amount of "bad language." Loved it.
Also, also? Small role played by Sara Jessica Parker back when she was still kinda geeky and super hot. Not all fake looking like she is now. Hubba Hubba. I seem to recall one of my first ever crushes was on her from this time period.
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The wife had never seen it and watching it again I realized I had never actually seen all of it. So glad we remedied that. Once again the Zucker brothers knew how to make us laugh and did the spoof properly. (unlike todays spoofs that just don't seem to get it) Val Kilmer (in his first role!) gives an awesome performance as an Elvis like performer thrust into intrigue and war in early WWII. (yes, its anachronistically incorrect...that's part of the fun) Once the double agent is reveled the end of the movie kind of fell apart for me, but I still managed to have a good laugh and enjoy the whole thing.
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